To survive in this world, you need to be both hopeful and strategic. You must believe that a better world is possible for you and your children, and be willing to create it. It takes a collective action, but mass movements need strong leaders. Few have embodied this spirit of leadership like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Of all the poetic truths that MLK spoke during his tragically short life, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” is one of the best. That arc is indeed very long. Sometimes it feels like we’ve had to work twice as hard, for twice as long, to only get half as far as we should be when creating a more equal society. To be blunt, the internet does a lot of damage in radicalizing and organizing the resurgent forces of white supremacist violence.
Still, the internet also gives us a previously impossible connection to MLK and his righteous work if you know where to look. Those of us who never had the chance to join King’s historic march on Washington, as my grandfather did in 1963, can now easily receive the good word from this African-American icon with just a few clicks. Here’s how to watch and listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches online.
Where to Watch MLK Speeches Online
Many online platforms are a wild west for racists, grifters, and teenagers screaming at video games, so you should subscribe to the official Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change channel on YouTube for relief from that garbage. There, you can watch archival recordings of King’s speeches, as well as current conversations with King’s family and other modern civil rights leaders.
Where to Listen to MLK Speeches Online
Prefer to listen to King’s words in audio form? Perhaps his dream of a better world will inspire you to run right to the top of that mountain during a vigorous workout. Fortunately, many of the best music streaming services include MLK speeches, usually for free. At last! They treat MLK like an artist, with his speeches categorized like songs or albums, so you should find them if you just key his name into the services’ search boxes. Here are some handy links for your convenience.
You can find MLK speeches and radio specials on:
Get Our Best Stories!
Get the Most Out of Your Technology
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Recommended MLK Movies and TV Shows
If you want to learn more about MLK’s life, you can watch numerous documentaries about the man, as well as the Civil Rights movement. Want to see how King was targeted by J. Edgar Hoover? Watch MLK/FBI. The HBO Max doc King in the Wilderness follows the reverend in his final years. The Academy Award-winning King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis covers the entire Civil Rights era through newsreels produced as it was happening. It’s available on many platforms, including Apple TV and Prime Video.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great man, but he was more than that. He has ascended into legend. When that happens, your myth and image become larger than yourself. Those myths then inspire new works that seek to convey the message despite being fictional.
One of the best recent examples of MLK fiction is Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-winning biopic Selma. This historical drama captures the lofty beauty of King’s rhetoric (with newly written speeches!), and the cunning, pragmatic, political gamesmanship required to enact tangible, positive change in such a hostile environment. You can currently stream Selma online for free with Pluto TV, or catch it on one of our recommended streaming video services.
Recommended by Our Editors
For a less politically correct, but still very potent, fictional take on King, I must shout out The Boondocks episode “Return of the King.” The classic cartoon translated Aaron McGruder’s incendiary comic strip into an equally radical Adult Swim sitcom about a Black family in a white suburb. In this alternate reality, Dr. King fell into a coma after being shot. He reawakens decades later, Captain America-style, into an unfamiliar, new Black cultural landscape. The episode leans a bit too hard on respectability politics, but trust me when I say you’ve never seen MLK like this. You can watch The Boondocks on HBO Max.
Much More to Learn
You should familiarize yourself with MLK online, but don’t let that be the beginning and end of your journey into Black history. With a little help from the internet, there are numerous other ways to expand your mind.
Check out the best video streaming services for celebrating Black art. Learn why the video game industry owes Black players more than just talk. And see how historians are preserving Black internet culture.
About Our Expert
Jordan Minor
Senior Writer, Software
Experience
My PCMag career began in 2013 as an intern. Now, I’m a senior writer, using the skills I acquired at Northwestern University to write about dating apps, meal kits, programming software, website builders, video streaming services, and video games. I was previously a senior editor at Geek.com and have written for The A.V. Club, Kotaku, and Paste Magazine. I’m the author of the gaming history book Video Game of the Year: A Year-by-Year Guide to the Best, Boldest, and Most Bizarre Games from Every Year Since 1977, and the reason everything you know about Street Sharks is a lie.
Read Full Bio
:strip_icc()/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_08fbf48bc0524877943fe86e43087e7a/internal_photos/bs/2025/H/j/vrALDNRdAtuVfULPB7Qw/design-sem-nome-20-.png?w=1024&resize=1024,1024&ssl=1 "Dying Light e Skate são destaques nos lançamentos da semana; conheça")
:strip_icc()/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_08fbf48bc0524877943fe86e43087e7a/internal_photos/bs/2025/y/A/vVg3eMS16VVHFo3cHOBw/gtuzhbyw8aau7rx.png?w=1024&resize=1024,1024&ssl=1 "EA FC 27: mundo aberto pode chegar já no próximo game; confira detalhes")
